Hiring Qualified Black Men in Corporate America

I decided to start this topic out of curiosity considering my academic and profesional experiences from my undergraduate years in college until now, as a graduate student. I would appreciate it if folks could share with me their opinions on this. My question is, does anyone on this board believe that White, American women are a bit more willing to give a chance (hire) qualified, black male applicants in corporate America than white men?

I'm a graduate student with very extensive experience in journalism and creative writing. I have written several articles for college publications, I have taught, and my poetry and creative work have been featured in some academic journals. I currently attend a Catholic University that is predominantly white in terms of its student population. Recently, I applied for two, on-campus jobs that provide considerable tuition remission. Both jobs require good writing skills and a solid resume, qualifications that I am absolutely confident I possess. I applied for one of the jobs since last spring, and submitted my writing samples and resume in person to the director of the said department. The director of the said department is a white male in his mid-thirties. He and I were corresponding by email before I stopped by in person to hand in my materials. I have done my best to follow up with him, but to this day, he is unwilling to let me know the status of my application. The last I heard from him was some time in mid March, via email after receiving a phone call inquiry. He suggested that I should follw up with him in about a month and a half ot check on things if I didn't hear back from him. I did. To this day, still no response.

I've also realized that quite a few people seem not to have it in mind that I am indeed a black male when they see my name on a resume. When they do meet me in person, perhaps there is some degree of shock. The director of the said department is the chief communications officer of my university's media relations program and primary newspaper. There are no black employees or other minorities on its staff, and I could notice a slight look of surprise in his eyes when I met him in person.

Having given up on that application, although still confident of my qualifications, I applied for another writing intensive job through my department. I went for my interview a month ago, and my soon-to-be supervisor, a White American woman possibly in her late 20s, (my age range) looked through my resume and I submitted a number of my writing samples to her in an envelope. She said that she had another candidate to interview and would be making her decision this month. I knew the competition would be fierce, given that I'm just one out of very few minorities, especially black males, on my campus. Yesterday, I received a call from her informing me that she would like to offer me the job if I was still interested. I accepted her offer and thanked her. Honestly, I was quite surprised because the competition was stiff, very stiff. Prior to the interview as well, we hadn't met in person, but she and I had been corresponding about the job via email.

Looking at my professional career so far, I've noticed that I've so far been able to get my foot in the door of media companies-newspapers, magazines and other publications that have pretty much had no black employees in their writing or editorial staff. I have gone in, done my best, worked hard, and developed great working relationships with each of my supervisors to the very last day. The editor of the newspaper I worked for previously was a White American woman as well. I was confident about my resume and writing abilities when I went for the interview, but I was quite uncertain about my performance in the mandatory editing test that she gave me. I did my best on it, and a couple days later, she offered me the job.

My very last supervisor was an African-American woman, and we had a great working relationship as well. In fact, I have had lady bosses at each of the primary jobs I have held previously and I really appreciate their professionalism, intelligence and effectiveness. All of them, my soon-to-be supervisor included, were very attractive as well. I have only had two, previous male supervisors and with one of them, things didn't work out too well. For three years, I had served him faithfully as a writing tutor for student athletes at my former university; in my third year, he terminated my employment for no reason, causing me to go through a period of serious, financial difficulty. By God's grace however, I got back on my feet and God has blessed me with much bigger offers since then.

My last question is to the supervisors on the board, both male and female. When you make that final decision to hire a candidate, does physical attractiveness (aside from experience and qualification) also play a role?

 

The truth is that physical attractiveness always is a plus. The "right" look is also important. While attractiveness is not a written criteria, attractive people are always seen as more appealing regardless of the resume. And for some roles such as sales and dealing with the public , it is an unspoken asset.

 

I dont think so, as they will look at people with whom they have similarities with just as many blacks will in hiring other blcks over whites. perhaps some will out of liberal guilt, or if the black male is more qualified than the whites, or if she needs to fill a qouta.